Frank VanderSloot to receive Horatio Alger Award

Idaho businessman Frank Vandersloot has won an award previously given to former President Ronald Reagan, former hockey star Wayne Gretzky and country music icon Johnny Cash.

The Post Register reports that Vandersloot is one of 12 to receive a Horatio Alger Award. Furthermore, the Melaleuca chief executive officer is just the fourth Idahoan ever selected for the award.

The Horatio Alger Association gives the award to successful individuals who come from humble backgrounds and later used their success to do good, particularly with higher education. The association gives scholarships to students with impoverished backgrounds.

Vandersloot grew up on a farm in northern Idaho. He worked to put himself through college at Brigham Young University and now heads a business with a reported $1.2 billion in annual revenue.

VanderSloot created the concept of consumer direct marketing. In 1985, he founded Melaleuca. The company has been listed on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies in America five times, and is approaching $1 billion in annual sales.